**San Diego, California** – The Kansas City Current defeated San Diego Wave FC on Sunday night to kick off a packed four-game slate across the league to close out the weekend. Two first half goals from attacker CeCe Kizer and midfielder Hailie Mace were met only by a late goal for Wave forward Amirah Ali as the visitors collected all three points.
In the 8 ^th minute, the Current nearly opened the scoring as midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta had a curling effort saved by Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan as the Kansas City playmaker closed in on goal. A ball played through the San Diego defense saw LaBonta latch onto it and carry it toward the 18-yard box. As she crossed the line to enter, Sheridan came out of her goal to close down the opportunity and, just as LaBonta released on her right-footed effort, the shotstopper was there in time to push the effort wide for a corner kick.
Then, in the 25 ^th minute, midfielder Hailie Mace was pressing high up the field for the Current when she tackled for the ball and won possession back just outside of the San Diego penalty area. Striding forward, Mace took a slight touch to her right to settle into a shooting position and curled an effort toward goal, though it ultimately fell wide.
However, Kansas City’s dominance in chance creation would pay off as they scored in the 27 ^th minute, this time via forward CeCe Kizer on a breakaway. With forward Kristen Hamilton in possession just inside her own half and looking to turn, she did well to play a long ball forward for Kizer to chase into space. As Kizer took the ball on the right side off the field, she cut down toward the endline into the 18-yard box and swung a low, right-footed effort to the far corner and in, beating Sheridan for the game’s opening goal.
The Current would continue to experience success in their attacking third, and just over 10 minutes later they scored their second goal of the night as this time Mace calculated the shot correctly and stuck it in the top corner of the goal. It was an individual moment of brilliance from Mace, who received a pass some 25 yards out from goal and took on a pair of defenders before cutting inside to an eerily similar position as her miss in the 25 ^th minute. However, in the 39 ^th minute, Mace belted it into the back of the net and put her side up two.
At the halftime interval, Kansas City held that two goal lead thanks to Kizer and Mace and could walk into the second half with an optimistic outlook.
One of the highlights of the second half came in the 67 ^th minute when Current forward Elyse Bennett was judged to have been fouled by Wave defender Madison Pogarch as Bennett spun toward the endline to get around the defender. Up to take was LaBonta, who had already come close on one occasion in the first half. Looking to capitalize on the opportunity from 12 yards out, LaBonta drove a powerful shot to Sheridan’s right, but the ball was at a perfect height for the goalkeeper to make a solid save and she did just that as she pushed the ball even further right and away from goal.
San Diego began to make a bigger impact in the game’s final ten minutes with Current goalkeeper Adrianna Franch challenged to make a catch above imposing attackers and her own defender in the 83th minute. As a ball got swung out away from goal, Franch was able to leap and secure the ball with both hands to repel the danger.
However, San Diego would eventually find their one goal of the night in the 88 ^th minute. The hosts were precise in attack as they moved ahead toward goal in an attacking move that saw Makenzy Doniak cut a pass back for forward Amirah Ali in the middle of the box. As Ali slid to meet the ball, she powered it over the line to give the home crowd a goal to cheer for.
In the end, though, Kansas City were the better side and that was reflected on the stat sheet as the Current outshot the hosts 17-7 in total and 6-1 on goal. The win extended the Current’s unbeaten run to nine straight games, while San Diego picked up just their fourth loss all season, putting them tied for third in that category.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights